The Hormel Foundation has made a grant of $2.

Saturday, July 15, 2000

The Hormel Foundation has made a grant of $2.25 million to the city of Austin for an Austin Housing and Redevelopment Authority project.

At a special meeting Wednesday, the foundation authorized the grant contingent on specific requirements that must be met by the city, such as rezoning and obtaining other funding sources.

The grant will be applied to the Murphy’s Creek residential development project located along the southern portion of the Cook Farm site at the north edge of Austin.

Discussion of the development has been under way for months, but the final version will include 88 townhomes and 43 single-family lots. The rent on the townhomes will range from $439 a month to $669, while the single family lots will be split for purchase only. A total of 21 of those will be available to first-time homebuyers only, with costs ranging from $93,000-$115,000 and the other 22 lots will be private market lots with the market to determine what homes will be built there.

"This development is really a spin off of two things – the Whittier Townhome project and an affordable housing project by the Austin Municipal Airport – that happened in Austin over the past four years," HRA Director Kermit Mahan said. "Based on the success of these programs, which were targeted at helping young working families, we are expanding on both ideas with Murphy’s Creek. This will be a significant thing for Austin."

The foundation grant is part of a $5 million pledge announced in November 1999 for a community initiative program under way in Austin.

These funds are to be used for the construction of affordable housing for workers and other projects.